


Pearlescent

by deadcultkid



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 06:28:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15966611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadcultkid/pseuds/deadcultkid
Summary: I used to know a girl named Noemi. She doesn't remember much from back then. She's a lot different now.





	Pearlescent

I met Noemi in preschool, but if you asked now, Noemi wouldn’t remember. I went to her house for her third birthday, I was so happy to be invited over someone’s house. I was always a lonely kid, I guess. All I knew about Noemi was that she took ballet and that she was starting swim class soon. I still remember the red velvet dress Noemi wore and how uncomfortable she looked. She took me to her room and showed me her toys and her huge black dog. It was my first time seeing a dog. And when she led me past her parents’ room, en route to the computer room, it was my first time seeing my mother pop pills with her mother. Noemi only remembers that day in chunks, and none of those chunks involve me. 

When I was around five, my dad got hurt on the job. He was a mechanic and he somehow fucked his back up. I remember the day he came home from the hospital. I had been so worried, I ran over and almost jumped into his arms. He just hugged me tight and cried. He cried for hours. Then he raided the bar and trashed our beautiful home. Trashed it so bad he set it on fire, after he beat my mother and me to a pulp. That was the first time I had broken a bone. I still remember how it stung as I calmly examined my rib jutting through my chest. All I could hear was muffled ringing. I woke up the next day in the hospital with my mother. I was informed that “a chandelier fell” on top of my mother and I and that my dad had to drag us out of the burning house. I hate my dad. He’s why we live in a fucking trailer.

I remember the second time I went over Noemi’s house. My parents had taken me with them to the grocery store. It was the first time they’d invited me anywhere in years. I was six years old, Noemi was seven. When we got to the grocery store my father told me to go pick up some marshmallows and we’d make s’mores. I stood there stunned, the man who’d been beating me for years, who nearly killed me, he liked me again? I’d redeemed myself somehow in his eyes. I couldn’t mess this simple task up, not if it meant my dad loved me again. I saw him give a kind smile as I walked in the direction of the marshmallows, but when I turned my back to him, I knew something was wrong. I heard nothing but a low droning noise, and when I turned back, my parents were gone. A panic attack consumed me immediately and I ran to the farthest corner of the store, balling up and just crying. What had I done in those moments to ruin it all? Where was I supposed to go now?   
“Hey.” A gentle, familiar voice broke through the unending droning. I looked up and saw Noemi looking down at me, her dark hair in braids that emulated a flat hairstyle. I suddenly felt numb, in a good way. Like someone put a bandaid on my parents leaving. “What’s wrong?” She asked, studying me with those doe eyes.   
“Nothing...” I lied, standing up and brushing myself off.   
“Where’s your parents?” She asked. Her eyes were burning holes in me and I could swear she had a faint smirk on her full lips.   
“Oh...I dunno.” I looked away, my six year old heart still pounding in my chest.   
“Wanna come with me?” I felt an odd happiness in my chest.   
“Okay.” I followed her to the produce section where her mother hazily examined some apples.   
“Mommy, can Stevie come play?” No one ever called me Stevie except for my mother. My chest felt warm. Her mother turned and looked down at me, smiling lazily.   
“Sure.” 

When we got to Noemi’s house she took me to her room and took out her crayons and colored pencils. We colored and we watched cartoons, but we didn’t really talk. When the sun started to set, I got ready to go home. Home. Home? Was there still a home? My chest got tight and I couldn’t breathe. Droning again.   
“My mom said you can sleep over. My dad works tonight.” Her voice broke through again. I didn’t even realize she had left the room.   
“I don’t have pajamas.”   
“I have some.” Noemi grabbed two over sized shirts from her closet and led me to the bathroom. I watched her fill the bath with bubbles and toys and opalescent bath beads. “This is what my mommy does with me every day. It keeps us pretty, so you’ll be pretty too” She sat with me in the tub and splashed around a few Barbie dolls. I felt weird, like I shouldn’t be in here with her. The bathroom door popped open and I jumped, her mom’s head poked in.   
`“Do you two want to roast marshmallows?” She slurred.   
“Yes.” Noemi’s voice was quiet. Her mother left and she looked at me. “Do you want to play a game?” I quietly nodded. “It’s called Mermaid and Sailor. I’ll be the mermaid and you’ll be the sailor. You have to kiss me to wake me up.” Kissing her didn’t seem like a bad thing, but I was a bit worried.   
“What if your mom comes back?”  
“It’s okay.” She assured me. “Okay let’s start.” I nodded and watched as she closed her eyes and laid down. The murky water covered her body completely. I leaned over where I thought she was, uneasily staring down into the water. I hesitated a bit longer before I pushed my face into the hot water, feeling Noemi’s soft lips press against mine. She sat up, wiping the water from her eyes and smiling. “Let’s play again.” So we repeated the ritual of me anxiously shoving my face into the warm water for the reward of a kiss, and I would think nothing of it. 

Later that night, her mom had gone to sleep upstairs and Noemi and I sat in front of the huge fireplace in her den roasting marshmallows on coat hangers.   
“You wanna do something cool?” She asked, eyes never leaving the flames.   
“Okay.” She left the room, I saw her run across the hall into the living room. Her small form was silhouetted by the Christmas tree lights slowly flashing. She ran back over with a small box. She slid it open to reveal a small blue bird.   
“My pep-pep gave this to me.” She held the bird in her hand, gently caressing the wings and poking its bloated stomach. I ran my fingers over its feathers, they were soft. “I love it very much.” That was the first time Noemi showed me how to rip a bird’s wings off. That was the first time I saw Noemi play with fire. If you ask Noemi, she won’t remember me. But she remembers the dead bird her grandpa let her bring home and how much she loved it. 

Noemi’s mother took me home the next day and, to my surprise, my parents were there. And, when Noemi’s mother swerved far enough down the road, my parents beat the hell out of me with extension cords. My arms were covered in welts for weeks. I stayed in my room for what felt like days, weeks, months. I spent most of my time laying in bed, thinking about what Noemi was doing. Thinking about mermaids and sailors. Every now and then my father would come in and beat me until I passed out. My mother ignored my screams. Later that summer, Noemi stopped going to swim class. She still feels sick when she sees pictures of her swim instructor. She can’t remember why. 

The third time I went over Noemi’s home was bad. She was eight, I was seven. It was Christmas and her parents had brought me presents, since my parents “couldn’t afford it” that year. It was one of the only times I saw her dad, a big, hulking man who always had a drink in his hand. I saw Noemi leave with one of her cousins upstairs and I felt anxious. There were so many adults and the smell of liquor was overwhelming. I wandered into the kitchen and saw Noemi’s dad talking to mine.   
“Yeah man, ever since my promotion, shit’s been going real smooth.” I remember seeing flashes of envy in my father’s silver grey eyes. He had just lost his job as a store manager at a shitty local grocery. Noemi’s dad knew this would piss my dad off, but he didn’t know how bad I’d get beat later because of it. Her dad is a real bastard.   
I wandered into the hallway and up the dark stairs, maybe Noemi was in her room. As I slowly climbed the top stair something down the hall from me caught my eye. It was Noemi’s mother and my mother in the bedroom. Noemi’s mother was mid sentence when she fell to the ground, my mother attempted to pick her up before falling herself. I ran back downstairs scared, passing Noemi’s father who was on the way up. He looked angry. When I got back down, Noemi was standing beside the living room couch where I had sat. When she saw me she motioned me over.   
“Wanna play a game?” She asked. I nodded and she pulled me down the hall past all the grownups into a small bathroom. It was quiet.   
“What game is it?” I asked, sort of hoping it was Mermaid and Sailor.   
“It’s called Mistletoe.” She explained the rules and I agreed to play. Later that night I had to leave. Everyone did. Noemi’s dad was furious. Noemi got caught playing Mistletoe with someone else. Now I know why her dad told her aunt to “fuck off” and to “take that fucking bastard pervert” with her. Noemi doesn’t remember me being there that night, but I know she thinks about that night a lot.


End file.
